EU Doubles Agricultural Advertising Budget to Fight Losses

Russia’s ban on imported goods from the United States and the European Union, which The Washington Post calls “a sweeping escalation in an economic war,” is driving up inflation within Russia as the country searches for alternative importers and prepares for the winter season.

Without access to Russia, farmers in the European Union had recently been told to destroy crops or else distribute them for free in order to prevent prices from plummeting. Now, the EU’s agricultural commissioner has announced plans to double the budget, from €60 million to €120 million (approximately $157 million USD) available for promoting the sale of agricultural products, in an even more dedicated effort to protect itself against the effects of the boycott.

“I strongly encourage agricultural organizations to make the most of this opportunity and to present ambitious promotion schemes in the coming weeks,” Dacian Cioloş, the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, told The New York Times.

The goal of the increased marketing budget is to “facilitate trying to find new destinations, new outlets, new markets for our products,” said Cioloş.